SOUTH KINGSTOWN — This spring’s punishing coastal storms claimed a Rhode Island tradition dating to the 1930s: people will no longer be able to park at Roy Carpenter’s Beach for the day.

A nasty April storm ate another 10 feet into the shoreline, leading the owners of the popular beach colony in Matunuck to do away with the public parking lot altogether.

“We decided to leave the sand where nature put it and just have a bigger beach for the people who live here,” said Nancy Thoresen, whose family owns Roy Carpenter’s.

Since the 1930s, people could pay to park in the lot and enjoy a day at the beach that on clear days looks out to Block Island. The practice reached a height a few decades ago, when 400 to 500 cars would park there and some beachgoers would flock to nearby Moonstone Beach for nude sunbathing, Thoresen said.

Once a generous beach, the sand has crept inland over the past decade and is now approaching the first row of cottages. “The whole coast around here seems to be moving inland,” she said.

People are welcome to park elsewhere and walk in, but there will be no public parking available, she said.